Zanzibar was a privileged hub of trade and cultural exchange between Africa and the East. The alternating monsoon winds enabled long-distance navigation using traditional vessels—the dhows—which arrived or departed from there to Oman, the Gulf region, and the Indian Subcontinent.
This continuous flow of people and goods established and solidified a shared cultural space, unified by a common religion—Islam—and a common language, Swahili, in which closely related ways of life developed, coexisting and extending along much of Africa’s eastern coast, from northern Mozambique to southern Somalia.
According to Professor Abdull Sheriff, Arab traders had been interacting with the coastal populations of Azania—believed to be the origin of the name Zanzibar—since at least the beginning of the Christian era. Zangubarm, the land of the Zanj (black people), was considered one of the marvels of the East.
Here, stories and myths emerged about a paradisiacal place—land of spices, elephant tusks, eastern princesses, and African slaves, among others. It was not only slaves, spices, and ivory that passed through here, but also missionaries, explorers, and conquerors.
In the 19th century, Zanzibar became the capital of an Afro-Arab dynasty, a center of diplomacy and international trade, as well as a place of learning for Muslim religious scholars and a gateway to Africa.
It was, at the time, a cosmopolitan metropolis. In its ports, dhows equipped with lateen sails crossed paths with Western square-rigged ships. Sheriff notes that traders from New England sold their Marekani fabrics to Indian merchants in exchange for ivory.
The French from Marseille bartered with the Somalis for hides and sesame seeds. And entrepreneurs from Hamburg sent hundreds of tons of cowrie shells to West Africa, where they served as currency.
The French from Marseille bartered with the Somalis for hides and sesame seeds. And entrepreneurs from Hamburg sent hundreds of tons of cowrie shells to West Africa, where they served as currency.
For all these reasons, Zanzibar is marked by a blending of cultural shades and the coexistence of very diverse ways of life, making this island one of the most fascinating places I know. The Portuguese presence here left few traces and, perhaps, even fewer memories.